EJ94- Charles II. Naval Ex seditions, &c. of the English,
Book III-
1668. first, with Civility, bought severalThings of them, for ready Mony, andPresents were made on both Sides; Butsoon after, when least expected, theGovernour ol one of the Spanijh Fortsseized Lieutenant Armiger, and oneMr. Fortescue, with two more, pretend-ing he had Qrders from the CaptainGeneral of Chili, so to do, ’till theShip came under the Command of theFort: And there Sir John was obligedto leave them, not being in a CapacityThey repafs to rescue them. He repass’dtheStreight,the &tr eight-, and, returning, arrived in England, inthe Month of June, 1671.
The Journal of this Voyage, whichwe have in Harris, being a meer Sea-Afid return ■ mar p s Journal, containing little morethan the Winds, Soundings, Distancesand Bearings of Places, but being verybarren of Adventures and Action,! havefor Brevity’s fake contracted it withinthis narrow Compass.
1660-70 The Tears J 669, and 1670. afforded" ' * very few memorable Events, exceptingthe King’s Endeavours to render himselfabsolute, and his several Steps towardinfringing the Triple Alliance, in Orderto break again with the Dutch . TheseMeasures were solely and wholly owingto the French Intrigues, tho’ the Insultsthe Dutch had used towards the King’sPerson, by burning his Effigies, in Perjia,and publishing abusive Pictures and Me-dals of him, in Holland ; Some Demands
concerning Surinam, and the States har-bouring Tray tors, who lived in Holland,were made thePretences for it. It is saidby some, that the King, in the Year,1672,signed a secretTreaty with France,to humble the Pride of the States Gene-ral, (as it was called,) But if it were so,it was probably only in general Terms,to be explained in a future Treaty.
However, to compleat a Work so 167°*happily begun, Lewis XlV.made aPre*tence to go to Dunkirk, and took withhim the Dutchess of Orleans, his Sister , a
in Law, and King Charles's Sister, whotook Occasion, from the Neighbour- comes tohood of England to pay a Visit to her England*Brother, at Dover, where she arrivedthe fifteenth of May. She staid there,with the King, above a Fortnight; Butamidst continual Pleasures and Diver-sions, the grand Affair of her Journy,it was thought, was rot forgot. HerCommission, as it is pretended, was, toassure her Brother, from His Mojt Chri-stian Majesty, that he might depend up-on a Force sufficient to free him fromthe Tyranny of the Parliament, renderhim absolute in his Dominions, and tointroduce Popery, as soon as the Statesshould be sufficiently humbled.
The Conferences were then carriedon,with great Privacy,between the Kingand his Sister, yet the Events that fol-lowed "plainly discovered the Purportof Hem, and Authors on that Side ofthe Question, especially Father Orleans ,did not scruple afterwards to own it. InConsequence of the Agreement made atthese Conferences, the Duke of Bucking- j ({ ,ham was soon after sent to France to with^conclude and sign a Treaty.
The last Day of March 1671. died z* j-Ann Hyde, Dutchess of York, Da ugh- jj ea th tffiter to the Lord Clarendon, in the oneand thirtieth Year of her Age. She ^rk-was the Mother of Queen Mary andQu,een Ann.
The King being now come to a Re- r QfrMsolution (a) of breaking with the jjf nSDutch, and joining with France in their Franc eDestruction : And having, besides two sain ^Millions and a half granted him by Duthe Parliament, received a considerable
Sum
(a) An Incident, which happened about thisTime, plainly shews the King’s Resolution. TheKing having granted Sir William Temple a Yacht,to bring over his Lady, the Admiral gave theCaptain of the Yacht express Orders, (other Au-thors do but suppose it, Rapin affirms it,) to goin the Way of the Dutch Fleet, then at Sea, andif they refused to strike, to fire at them. This,beyond Dispute, was designed to draw in theDutch to some Action, which might serve for aPretext to a Rupture. The Captain, in his Re-turn with the Ambassadress and her Childrenon Board, met the Fleet, commanded by FanGhendt, and, finding he paid no Regard to theKing’s Yacht, fired several Shot at them: WhichAffront, however, the Admiral, after havingbeen on Board the Yacht, and talked with theCaptain, thought fit to put up with, and the Cap-tain pursued his Voyage without Molestation.
The Captain of this Yacht, at his Return,was rewarded with a Gold Chain, for so boldlyvindicating the Honour of the Crown.
But the Designs and Pretensions of the Confe-derate Kings 0 1 England and France appearedyet plainer, by a Medal which was struck, aboutthat Time, in France. On the Face was repre-sented the(which is the common Symbol ofFrance ) exhaling the Vapours from a boggyGround, with the Inscription z Evexi se» dis-cutiam, alluding to the Services done to theDutch, by the English and French in raising themto Inch a Pitch of Grandeur, and likewise thepresent Design of these two Kings to humblethem. On the Reverse was the Moon shining onthe Sea, with the Inscription ; Mihi Soli ob-Temperat Æquor, denoting the Pretension ofEngland to the Sovereignty of the adjacentSeas.